Every organization needs to define and differentiate itself (even the one gal agency, or the neighborhood bakery). The thing to keep in mind is that your brand is defined by experiences and perceptions, which now primarily happen on the web. So share your stories through your website, social media activity, and public relations.
Your brand is the foundation upon which your entire organization, and all your marketing efforts are built. Below are a few questions I use with clients when helping them figure out marketing strategies.
- Who are we (no fluff please, and in less than 160 characters)?
- What are the three greatest strengths/weakness of our brand?
- What are our greatest opportunities for growth?
- What keywords would people type into a search engine to find our organization/products/services?
- Who are our buyer personas?
- What makes us different?
- How do we express that differentiation in words, images, and actions?
- What’s your moat, or sustainable competitive advantage? (Warren Buffet popularized the phrase moat)
- What added value (i.e. expertise, resources, guidance, tools) can we bring to our audiences?
- What are we doing to innovate and move our industry forward?
- Why do customers initially buy from us (acquisition)? What keeps them coming back (retention)?
